Recently, studies on human friendly robots have been actively conducted. In the course of such trends, development of small-size and light-weight next generation actuators made from a polymer material which could realize a soft movement and could be used as alternative driving sources to conventional motors, is now attracting attention. Among them, actuators comprising a PVC gel have an advantage that they are relatively easy to control due to a stable movement in the air by an electric field.
There is a contraction-type gel actuator that has a configuration in which a gel that is driven by an effect of electric field is sandwiched with a mesh-type anode and a foil-type cathode. When a voltage is applied between the electrodes, the gel is drawn into a gap of the mesh of the anode. Thereby, the actuator contracts (or shrinkages) in its thickness direction.